Home Teams win Game 7

byJohn Ewing

We are going to Game 7 baby!

LeBron James’ second consecutive 41 point game (plus 11 assists, eight rebounds, four steals and three blocks) helped the Cleveland Cavaliers send the NBA Finals back to Oakland for a winner-take-all Game 7.

The Cavs are one win away from giving Cleveland its first major pro sports championship in over 50 years. Standing in their way is a 73-win Warriors team and history.

All-time, there have been 125 Game 7s in the NBA Playoffs. The visiting team has won just 24 of them (19.2 percent). The numbers get even worse in the Finals.

There have only been 18 Game 7s in the NBA Finals, the home team has won 15 of them (83.3 percent). The last visiting team to accomplish the feat was the Washington Bullets in 1978 when they traveled to Seattle and beat the SuperSonics 105-99 for the title.

Using BetLabs database we find that since 2005, home teams in Game 7 are 28-9 straight-up and 23-14 against-the-spread. Backing home teams has been very profitable winning 62 percent of the time ATS and returning +$767 (20.7 percent ROI).

LeBron and the Cavs already made history by becoming just the third team to force a Game 7 after falling behind 3-1 in a series. Can Cleveland become the first team to win the Finals after trailing 3-1 or will the Warriors repeat? We find out Sunday in Game 7.